Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Prime Minister's speech to the UN General Assembly on 24 September 2019 in support of electric cars, whether she has plans to allocate additional funding to support the electric vehicle network; and what progress she has made on the development of that network.

Government funding and leadership, alongside private sector investment, has supported the installation of more than 21,000 public chargepoints. This includes over 2,100 rapid chargepoints – one of the largest networks in Europe. The Government has already allocated further funding. In August it was announced that funding for local authorities through the On-street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) would be doubled this financial year increasing from £2.5 to £5 million. Since 2017, 54 local authorities have applied and the ORCS will have helped deliver approximately 2500 chargepoints by the end of March 2020. Earlier this month the Treasury launched a £400m public-private Charging Infrastructure Investment Fund, with the first £70 million allocated for 3000 rapid chargepoints, which will double the number across the UK.

In July, it was announced that the Government would launch a review into the national core rapid charging network along motorways and major A roads. We also want to ensure that chargepoints are easily accessible for all drivers which is why the Government announced in July that we want to see all new rapid and higher powered chargepoints provide debit or credit card payment by spring 2020.

Most charging will continue to happen at people’s homes or workplaces. To support this we have launched a consultation, running from July to October 2019, on proposals for new private chargepoints to have smart functionality and related minimum device standards. Smart functionality will enable electric vehicles to charge off peak, reducing costs for consumers and demands on the energy system. We are also consulting to the same timescale on changing Building Regulations to require a chargepoint in every new home where there is an appropriate parking space, and minimum infrastructure provision in new non-residential buildings.